Your Glory is so Beautiful

   We live in a scared, fragile world. You have to really think about what you're about to say because someone's feelings could get hurt. More people are in counseling now than ever before. It's always someone else's fault and there is no such thing as "sucking it up", but more like "you owe me". We live in a world full of sinners who want to proclaim they are saints.

    This theory has desensitized our churches and has given our people a feeling of false self-righteousness. 

We have tricked our churches and done the nations injustice. Our congregations are filled with people who believe they are good enough to get into heaven on their own, or with just a little bit of Jesus. We have completely forgotten the gospel. One of my pet peeves is churches who don't preach the Old Testament. I think it is so incredibly crucial to know where we came from and why we needed Jesus in the first place. I'm not talking about just reading Genesis 3 occasionally either. I have spent far more time in the Old Testament than I have in the New Testament because it makes me realize what my human nature tells me to do, the grace and love of Christ, and the holiness of God. Now you go to church and listen to a preacher spin a single New Testament verse into a lovey dovey mess that has lost it's original meaning altogether. We need the Old Testament to make us realize that we are sinners, we turn away from God daily, and we NEED Jesus. 

But the problem isn't that the churches don't talk about the Old Testament. The problem is that churches don't want to talk about sinners. Recently someone told me that they felt uncomfortable when someone was sharing the gospel and told them that we all deserve to go to hell. I was so surprised. Isn't that what the entire gospel is? The Bible tells a story and isn't this the essence of the message? 

Romans 3:23-24 "For ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ."

So why aren't we talking about our sins? Why do we feel uncomfortable when someone points out that we are sinners?

How can one truly appreciate what Christ has done for them without acknowledging that they are indeed sinners. With me its a matter of worship. I worship Christ by acknowledging that through Him I have obtained wholeness and holiness even. And I'm sick and tired of our generation, our country telling Christians that they're good enough with or without Christ. 

Use your unholiness in worship next time you go to church, or even right now. Embrace what Christ has done for us and the redemption that comes from him. Because we are sinners, we have fallen short, and we are in need of a Savior. 

Below is one of my favorite worship songs, "Your Glory" by Alls Sons and Daughters. If you get 6 minutes of free time, listen to it. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBWFzVfJ5-0

The Blog Post that Proves Christianity

Okay, so maybe this title is a little bold. Proving Christianity is no easy task, mainly because God wants us to rely on a certain amount of faith. He gives us the equation y-mx+b, gives us numbers for three of those variables and expects us to solve for the last variable. It's not black and white like that for all of us, however.  It blows me away how many times I have heard some of the following theories when it comes to religion/heaven:

• No matter what someone believes in, if they're a "good person", their eternity will be spent in heaven.
• All of us on Earth will end up in heaven. 
• What someone else believes is none of my business

Okay, I'm just going to ask some questions here...

So, if all you have to be is a "good person", then why does anyone practice a religion? What's the point in praying and abstaining from sex and not doing drugs and going on mission trips if all you have to be is a "good person"? Further, who dictates what a good person is or not? Doesn't everyone think that they themselves are a good person by human standards? So what/who dictates exactly what makes a good person?

Piggy-backing off of that, if everyone goes to heaven, whether they are a good person or not, then again why does anyone go through the restrictions of a religion? What is the point?

Stopping here for a second, you see my point. If either of these were true, then no one would feel the need to have a religion. I've heard Muslims and Christians both say these things. My question to them is this: if you truly believed either of these things, then why are you restricting yourself with religion? I'm 18 years old. I know exactly what "fun" i'm missing out on by being a Christian. I don't get high, I don't attend the parties on campus, I don't drink, I don't have sex (or anything NEAR it), I don't dress provocatively, and I don't find humor in crude jokes. Is any of that easy as a Freshmen in college? NO NO NO NO NO. So why would I do that if all I had to be was a relatively good person, or, by even easier standards, just a human being? Why would anyone do that?

The point is, from the beginning of time people have believed in something. God, Greek gods, Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, or even if you believe in Science (I'm talking to you, atheists). Religion has always been there. The funny part about this is that most major religions share the same Old Testament. The Bible, The Koran, and so on. From this, any logical person could infer that if 99% of people who have ever lived on Earth believed in SOME higher power, then a higher power likely exists. Second, if most religions share the same Old Testament, that's probably true too. The great part about this point is that the religions vary by who they perceive is the prophet described in the Old Testament. For sake of time, it is very extremely clear to me that the scriptures point directly at Jesus with big flashing signs. And if I believe that, then I have to believe the New Testament too. And I believe the New Testament, then I take it very seriously when Jesus tells us that He is the only way to heaven. And if I believe this, then I take each and every soul on this Earth that much more serious. So yes, it is my business what the person next to me believes. They aren't just a person to me. They are a soul, they have a purpose, and they were formed by God. This is SERIOUS business.

So, with all that being said, I prove my point. Yes, the title was bold, and maybe I didn't exactly prove Christianity. However, I got y'all thinking. If you believe in one of the above theories, why? And does that actually make sense/line up with your religion? If you are an atheist,you don't have a code of ethics really. You have nothing to tell you "yes, this is correct" or "no, this is wrong". Therefore, the answer for you is probably yes. However, if you are a Christian or a Muslim or a Jew, does that really line up with your religion? And if you aren't following your religion close enough for the answer to be no, then ask yourself why you are really even in a religion at all.

And all of you- why do/dont you believe in Jesus? Do you understand the facts I stated about the Old Testament? If not, please contact someone. Me, a local pastor, somebody. God is real, Jesus is his son, and he is speaking to your heart. He has provided a way for you to get more information, but you HAVE to take the opportunity. No excuses.

Aint it Fun Livin' in the Real World?

Well here I am, sitting in my itty bitty dorm room, writing a blog post. The last 2 days have been filled with such mixed emotions from every end of the spectrum but I think the one word that just ties it all together perfectly is "overwhelming".  Absolutely nothing I have had planned in my head for many many months now has actually happened as I had planned it. From the bed loft I thought I would buy not fitting my bed to my dorm being too small to actually fit the bed loft I did end up buying in the way I thought it would be. Adjusting to living in a room a little bit bigger than my bathroom meant for 2 people and sharing a bathroom with 20 other girls has been different. but it has definitely been a good different.

God has definitely been trying to teach me before classes even begin. I have learned that you have GOT to roll with the punches or you will sink. When you graduate high school, the crap that life throws at you gradually becomes more and more uncomfortable. I am super surprised that right off the bat things became more difficult. You have to adjust. I really do enjoy dorm life but it definitely isn't the comfortable life that most high school seniors have in their heads. Things have changed so much in the short time that I have been here and it would really have been easy if I just had given up and decided that I hated college that first day. But I didn't. I sat back and wondered why God would give me this cup. He did it in the name of teaching 

From this point on, I will always look for solutions to problems in a more realistic way than ever before. These are real life problems that I am encountering, things that I have to fix on my own. I am so glad that I was introduced to this right off the bat. It seems like such a simple thing that most people think is common sense, but it's not. You have to be on your own, figuring out your own problems for it to really connect. 

For the rest of our lives, problems will arise. Set backs will come. Everything we have had planned in our heads for years will not go as planned. And that's okay. Our God is with us and he has a plan. And things always go according to his plans. That is enough comfort for the next 4 years of college and a year getting my masters and a career and a husband and some kids. Or you know, whatever God has planned for me. 

Have fun out there fellow college students! The fun has just begun. And adults out there, remember this lesson too. God bless!

When the Stars Fall Down

Resurrection. Rapture. Apocalypse. Armageddon. End of life as we know it. The final show-down.

The coming of christ has many different names, categories, and definitions. There are different beliefs on what is going to happen, when it will happen, how it will happen, and the timing of all the things that are going to happen. People have different interpretations of Revelations and therefore hardly anyone believes the same thing when it comes to the rapture of the church. I mean, no one knows honestly, so I guess it would be more accurate to say that no one's guesses are exactly the same.

The other night as I sat down to eat a dinner with my boyfriend and his family, this exact discussion arose. Some of his family believe one thing, some believe the opposite, and the rest really do not know (I fall into that category). To catch you up:

Belief #1: Rapture First- People who believe in this theory say that the current followers of Christ will be raptured first (aka, taken from this earth to spend eternity with Jesus) and then the Tribulations that is outlined in the book of Revelations will take place. Followed by the tribulation, the people who realized they had missed out the first time and would like to dedicate their lives to Christ would be given a chance to do so. The "second rapture" will occur (this is when many people believe 144,000 Jews will realize Jesus is the Messiah they had been looking for and will also be saved) and then the full-out war between God's people and Satan's people will occur. Obviously Satan is defeated and we spend eternity as God's bride.

Belief #2: Tribulation First- People who believe in this theory believe that everyone on earth, believers and non believers alike, will be suddenly thrust into the tribulation that Revelations outlines. After that, there will be one and only one rapture of the people of God and then the fight between heaven and hell will commence.

Obviously these theories go much deeper and each have valid scriptural evidence to back up the claims. If you've by chance never taken a look at Revelations, its extremely symbolic and hard to interpret. It certainly goes above and beyond human understanding, as I believe God meant for it to go. My point I want to make here today is, are you ready for either option?

It would be easy and comforting to believe that we christians get to be raptured first and skip all the pain and suffering that comes with option 2. I think its safe to say that we all would prefer this to happen. The question is, however, what if it doesn't? What if option 2 is actually most accurate. What if you and I and our babies have to live through the years of tribulation, something that is quite literally hell on earth,? Are you ready to still worship God and still believe that He is good?

Sadly, I think the answer to this question is "no" for a lot of us. If the antichrist himself held a gun to our heads and told us to accept his mark or die in the name of Jesus, many of us would choose the easy way out and take the mark. Even harder, if he held a gun to our children's heads, most parents would most definitely accept the mark. We most definitely would choose satan and sin over Jesus. We absolutely would do what was easiest, what was most just in our own eyes. It would be a no-brainer to continue to conform to this world, a world that Satan controls.

I'm coming with this message today to get you thinking. In this day and age, not very often do we stop to pause and think about this reality. We do not know when Jesus will come to claim his bride. We do not know if we will suffer or if we will be given grace. It could be 10 minutes or days or weeks or years. But are you ready? And are you ready to die for your God? Are you ready to say "Yes, Satan. I follow Jesus and I know that You will be defeated and I will voluntarily let you take my family's life from me right now because I know that we will be in a much, much better place for our faith in Him"? That's a tough statement to spit out. But it's something you have to think about now.

As a near 20-year-old who has her whole life and a college degree ahead of her, this is something really hard to think about. I've been pinning wedding ideas and baby ideas for years now, and I'm finally getting to a point in my life where that very well could be the reality for me in the next 5 years. I could be a new bride with a baby on the way. Thats exciting. Everyone wants to meet Mr. Right and get hitched and pop out some kids and decorate a home together and grow old surrounded by happiness and family. It's literally the American Dream. But honestly, this might not be a reality for me. Jesus could be calling his bride home sooner rather than later. Am I ready to say "take my life and all the dreams and plans I've looked forward to since I could remember. I choose Jesus, not that."..? I think, in all honestly, I am.....

Are You?

Calling All College Students: The List Has Arrived

Here is the list of things that I have thus far found extremely irritating when it pertains to college. The number is what it is because I just decided to list absolutely everything that has annoyed the dickens out of me in the past few months and then run with whatever number that turns out to be. Also, for your added benefit, I have found all of these things to be annoying and I have yet to attend a single college class or even move into a dorm, which adds on to the fun in my eyes. Without further ado, here is a list of the crap that universities put us through:

THE LIST

(dum dum daaaaaaaaah)

1. The fact that I am given a fee for anything and everything. I have a fee for being a student and for living on campus and for choosing the major that I chose and for parking and for breathing and enjoying sunlight and for any other thing that university can find to nickel and dime me (I lied about that last one). You would think the thousands upon thousands already going towards tuition and housing and meal plans would have it covered.... You would be wrong. 

2. Being an "Overflow Student". Essentially it comes down to this: the university accepts everyone who applies in order to get extra $$$. They don't believe half these idiots will make it past the first month, but they get their grubby little hands on all those thousands that student paid for the first semester anyway. This means that these snots want to live on campus and since the school accepts everyone, there becomes a problem with the amount of dorms available. Which puts actual students who came in with a shot at doing this in a hotel for weeks. Why this is even a thing, I don't know. But it needs to not be. 

3. The Email System from hell.  I will never understand why I have to login 10 times before my account is recognized but I do. I also will never understand why the system can never seem to follow any command you give it. Isn't it ironic that an institution meant to make you more educated can't even handle its own tech problems?

4. Unneeded books. Not sure why the university lists books that they never intend to use on the "what to buy" list in their class. In fact, on the first day of class they will even admit to you that you need not buy this book, which is why I will be holding off. Also don't know why this is a thing, but it is and I'm still not president so not much I can do there. 

5. We're given jail cells in exchange for our souls. We basically are being asked to sign our life away and pay out the wazoo. You would think we would at least be met with top of the line bedrooms for this, but we're not. We are met by warm, inviting cinder block walls and furniture from the 1960s on move-in day. 

6. The "You got so lucky to get all of those scholarships!" summer talks. I'm "lucky?" Um no. Please tell that to the senior girl in high school who spent her free periods (the period all other seniors used for nap time) filling out scholarships and writing essays. I believe I have been to more interviews/banquets/offices to prove that I am worthy of this stuff than anyone on planet earth. I lived and breathed scholarships for a year. I basically lived in my guidance counselors office, some days even visiting my warm and cheery and not socially awkward (heehee) guidance counselor between every single class period, plus 20 minutes of my lunch. So no, I did not get lucky. God blessed me with the maturity to be able to be that disciplined, but I by no means had it "fall in my lap".   

7. My emails being passed around more than the Thanksgiving side dishes. For some reason when you email someone at the university who seems like they could answer your questions (or are even listed as the person who could indeed answer the question), they always have to send it to somebody else. Infact, sometimes i email my school trying to figure out exactly who to email about a certain question and that email gets passed around 4 times. 

For the time being, this is all the ranting I am capable of. Yes, this stuff gets under my skin. But I am super excited to be in college and start my little journey. However, I will protest this crap till I die.

Spirit, Lead Me Where My Trust is Without Borders

I am writing at a much too late time in the middle of the night simply because God is good and he has made my cup overflow yet again. As many of you know, I will be starting college next month. Some of you may have been through this yourself, so you know all about the nervousness/excitement you feel. You honestly do not know what to expect at all, but you are so ready for whatever it is. Just how much would you completely flip if you had to go into this not knowing where you would be living this year? Scratch that, what if you're college let you pick out a roommate that you had gotten to know for months and then told you that there actually wasn't room for you so they would pay for you to stay in a hotel until someone dropped out and you wouldn't actually get to room with your room mate. Yeah, not a cool feeling. Well that was the boat I was in.

I go to a college where the acceptance rate is through the roof. Funny thing is, it's actually one of the most respected schools for many, many majors in the southeast. This means that an insane amount of people pay for the first semester and about 30% of them actually end up dropping out super quickly, which in turn means the school makes thousands off of students they never really believed in in the first place. With this being the case, you must apply for housing as soon as the first inkling of wanting to attend the school actually forms itself into a brain wave and goes through your mind. I, being the indecisive person that I am, decided I wanted to go here in February. Apparently that was too late, hence me being an "overflow" student.

OBVIOUSLY I was bummed beyond words. I had plans to skip "The Great Move In Day" and just wait until I had to move in. I didn't even want to look at the pile of junk I had just bought for a dorm I would have to wait weeks and week for. And I was super bent that I just spent months getting to  know a girl I thought I would be living with but actually would be no where near. Not to mention, we planned for our room to be super cute and matchy and that no longer would be the case. I was not a nice person today by any stretch.

Then I decided it was time to put on the big girl panties and deal with it. After all, this was my first experience with "The Real Word" and hey, "The Real World" never really had sparkling reviews did it? I was going to give it to God. I didn't know why I had been the one that was homeless. I thought I had done everything right in my college search, right down to making sure the school I wanted to go to was also the school he wanted me at. But I knew that his plan was what mattered and i was going to make the best out of it. Who knew, the person I did end up rooming with might need Jesus. I trusted that he knew what he was doing so I finally gave over the reigns, 100%.

I then made the hour long trek to an amazing worship service that is held on Tuesday nights. When I arrive, I look at my phone and see that my room mate had texted me... We had gotten a dorm. Yes, it's the crappiest dorm on campus and yes, we will have to relocate after Christmas due to renovations, but I am no longer homeless...

Praise God!! 

So as I go into worship and begin singing "Spirit, lead me where my trust is without borders, Let me walk upon the waters, wherever You would call me" it hits me... God needed me to learn how to trust him. I have just entered a world where I do things on my own, which means plans will go, well, not as planned. I have to be able to fully know that no matter what happens or where I go it's in his plan and God has a hold on my life. I am about to walk into more of a battle field than I realize. Its a battle for souls. If I cant trust God, how can I convince anyone else to do the same? I know that even when it feels like things are upside down, its part of his plan. Just because I don't have it all figured out doesn't mean he doesnt. We never know what mission opportunities we have laid out before us and it is absolutely essential that we walk into the unknowing with a smile on our face so that others may ask why in the world we are so happy when everything seems to be going off the tracks. 

I am so glad to have had him teach me this lesson with his own hands and his own voice. It is certainly something I will never forget. If you havent heard the song Oceans by Hillsong (or if you've just heard the really bad radio version), the link is listed below. Please listen to it! It is one of my all time favorite worship songs and it always reminds me that he is the calm in the storm. With Jesus, you dont have to walk on water. You can just swim. He will keep your eyes above the water, even when the waves are taller than you can see. But trust is the key. God bless. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy9nwe9_xzw

Send Us to the Nations

Acts 1:8 "... and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth"

Last week, I spent about 5 hours a day at various mission sights in South Carolina for 4 days. I was on a church trip that allowed me to choose to minister to children during the day and then return to the camp at night for worship and fellowship. Every day I went to a different site to play with kids and hopefully be able to share the gospel with them and every day I was met by the exact same types of kids. These kids were growing up in impoverished apartment complexes. They were being shuttled between mom and dad's house because they just weren't really a priority to their parents. They were poor, smelly, lacked manners, and were extremely hostile to each other. These kids were so lost I was astounded. 

I was met by different cases over the 4 days I was on site. I witnessed children screaming at each other disrespectfully because they honestly had never been talked to differently than that way at home. They were always disrespected so they knew no better. I witnessed extreme racism towards white children in heavily african-american communities-a racism we as Americans don't really expect.  I witnessed hispanic children tell me they had never heard the name Jesus Christ before in their lives. I was overcome by the need of Jesus in these kids lives and in their parents lives. Signs of broken hearts were shown to me all week. Parents would come check out what we were doing and would pour out their hearts about the divorce they're going through, etc. Children as young as 4 wrote notes about how they felt hated and as if they had no friends and were eternally sad. Shy kids who had too many walls up didn't even speak or play or laugh. I honestly could not believe the amount of need that had to be met. 

It was one of the most life changing experiences of my life. 

It was here that God showed me that no matter where you are living or what you are doing or what He is calling your heart to long for, you can and MUST be a missionary at all times. The person in front of you at the grocery store could be hurting and just a simple conversation could open the door to so much more. People in America, let alone the rest of the world, are longing for Christ, they just need someone to show them the way. Being intentional in people's lives and investing in them is so important and it's something we don't do because we're lazy and scared and we don't actually want to follow God's will unless it's something easy. News Flash:

God's will is and forever will be uncomfortable, active, and really REALLY  hard. 

The truth of the matter is that God called us to be missionaries wherever we are. If we believe that the Gospel is indeed the gospel and that Jesus died, took the wrath of God for our sins, and rose from the dead, we HAVE to tell people. Keeping this to yourself not only means that their souls won't get to be with Jesus, but that they have to go through the rest of this life without Jesus' strength and help and they will never, ever feel liberated no matter how hard they try or what they do. This task is spelled out in the bible and examples are given. We get too caught up in careers and money and family and the desires of this Earth and we forget that we are created by God, the Bible was and is real, and we are called to follow what it says. Your life and your Christian life are not 2 separate things. Its time that the Church realized this. I pray that you will take advantage of every missions opportunity available to you. I hope that you will pray that God gives you guidance and words when you minister to people. I hope that you will be bold in your faith as we are called to be and are able to take the first step. 

Through this week, God put a strong passion for the Hispanic children in my heart. I currently feel a calling to learn Spanish and be involved in mission trips to Hispanic countries and Hispanic communities here in the US. It is a feeling I don't think I could describe with words and I am praying for the boldness to be able to fulfill my calling every day. I hope that you will join me in prayer for these people. 

Please take the time to serve others and to pray about what passions you have in order to better serve others as well. Love you all! God bless.

"We will run and we will go

To the world to let them know

Jesus is the Risen King;

He is God eternally!"